His videos aren’t always the highest-quality. They aren’t always the most put-together. But Gary’s human-ness shines through.

And people love it.

Counterintuitively, if you use your prospect’s name in their emails, it feels fake.

Why?

Because they know that you aren’t friends with them. They’ve never met you in their life and seeing their name doesn’t communicate, This message is for you, but rather, I know how to use merge tags and I have something to sell you.

And that message isn’t very compelling.

Despite his success, Grant Cardone is someone who makes this mistake in his emails.

Similarly, Ron Friedman does the same.

I never open these emails because I immediately know that they are trying to sell me something. As opposed to building a relationship or looking out for my best interests.

Imagine the effect that this email would have on you if it arrived in your inbox.

You’d probably want to open it. It’s personal, but not in the traditional sense. It’s personal in the sense that Rachel is willing to tell me things about herself that I assume take courage to talk about.

Overall, it expresses who Rachel is, not who I am.

Which is important. Humans are completely okay with soapbox speeches so long as you have something good to say. There’s no need to pretend like you’re talking to just one person when everyone knows that you’re not.

Get on your email soapbox and own it. Think of your emails more as a public speaking gig, not a one-on-one conversation.

2. Replace the CTA with a teaser

Multiple studies clutter the internet promising that “get” will convert better than “learn” and blue will convert better than red.

But this type of personalization is completely artificial. It doesn’t actually increase conversion rates that drastically.

Sure, there’s probably something to be said for the way our brain responds to different colors and words. But, in the end, “get” isn’t going to make me buy your product if I don’t want to.

One A/B test, for example, found that the button copy on the right converted 96% better.

First, it will get your audience prepped and ready for whatever you’re going to offer soon.

Second, it’s an email without a CTA, which improves trust with your audience — they won’t think you’re always just trying to sell them something.

And that’s a prospect relationship worth building.

3. Provide value without asking for anything

Practically every marketer preaches that you shouldn’t create a piece of content, send out an email, or talk to a prospect without some sort of pitch.

“You have to give them something else to do,” they say. “Otherwise they’ll just forget about you and move on.”

Let me speak for all prospects when I say this: I’m okay with not always being pitched something. I won’t forget about you, and I’ll probably just trust you more because you aren’t always in it for yourself.

In short, give way more than you take. People are more likely to buy from you if they no you’ve already given them loads of value.

If you want to systematize the process, you can follow Michael Hyatt’s rule of 20-1. Provide 20 pieces of free value before asking for anything in return.

As marketers, we want to make sales and build our clientele and grow our business. But we can’t forget that those things only happen once we provide enough value to people that they believe they can trust us when making a purchase.

It’s on us to take the initiative in building that trust. It isn’t the prospect’s job.

Rachel Pedersen is someone who realizes this with her emails. Her emails always provide free value and have absolutely no CTA at the bottom.

In other words, they build relationships.

This is where, in one of her emails, she provides free value and advice to her list of prospects.

And this is how she ends her email — notice there is absolutely no pitch, just a friendly farewell.

What’s the benefit to doing this?

Every time that Rachel pitches me a course she’s offering or a product she created, I buy it. Simply because I trust her.

And trust is worth a thousand sales.

4. Hone your writing voice

While traditional methods of personalization are dying out, a new wave is rising.

Namely, personalization through a strong and consistent writing tone.

Again, people are okay with you standing on your pedestal and speaking. Your job is to get that audience to like you and enjoy reading your emails.

To do that, you need to add some personality to your writing.

Don’t just write old, boring, cliché emails, include a style that makes it uniquely you.

And then, make sure that your voice is consistent throughout all of your emails. Here is another email from The Hustle that illustrates the consistent tone with which they write.

If you write with a certain tone in one email and then a new tone in a different email, people might get suspicious that you’re not writing your emails — and that’s no-brainer for a prospect relationship that requires trust.

Choose your tone, define it on paper, and then consistently write emails that have the same voice.

Even when The Hustle does their sponsorship portion at the end of each newsletter, they keep it personable. They don’t become ‘salesy’, and they don’t pretend that someone else is doing the pitch.

They keep it fun and make it themselves.

Here’s another email pitch from The Hustle.

The worst thing you can do is write an email that resonates with your audience and ends it with a heavy-handed pitch.

People will immediately lose that trust you took so long to build.

Whether you’re providing value, pitching a product, or discussing an experience, be yourself.

Nothing builds trust quite like a writing tone that humanizes you.

Conclusion

Prospects want to work with you. They want to become your friend, build a relationship, and purchase your service.

You just have to let them.

No prospect wants to feel like they’re living in your marketing sheep-pen, just a number, and no more value to you than the money in their pockets.

Since traditional personalization is now recognized as marketing-speak, everyone sees it for what it is. Namely, a bunch of impersonal bullshit.

And the last thing you want is for your prospects to think you just want them for their money.

To build trust with your prospects, don’t include their name in an email, use teasers occasionally instead of CTA’s, provide value for free before asking for anything in return, and hone your writing voice.

True personalization isn’t saying someone’s name or changing the color of a button, it’s communicating through authenticity and transparency that you care about the people on your list.

So much that you’re not going to market to them. You’re going to build a relationship with them.